


Quiet Play

by Neyiea



Category: Glanni Glæpur í Latabæ, LazyTown
Genre: Fluff, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-07
Updated: 2017-01-07
Packaged: 2018-09-15 11:09:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 965
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9232223
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Neyiea/pseuds/Neyiea
Summary: A young Robbie meets a man who calls himself 'Nine'.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Just testing some ideas out.

It’s been noisy in town for the past couple of days, the other children have been playing loudly and even the grownups and teenagers are rushing about with a lot more spring in their step than usual. Normally Robbie doesn’t care to recognize these things, but he lives right beside the park and all the hustle and bustle has carried on to creating a lot of noise going on outside the fence. Excited yells and screeches make it difficult for him to concentrate and so, even though the weather is exactly how he likes it, he’s been staying indoors where the noise is a little more controlled. He turns the fan on in his room and the steady, predictable hum of it swallows up some of the more offensive sounds.

It’s quiet so far today, though, and Robbie feels like he can finally hear himself think again, so he turns his attention towards his usual pursuits.

His father put together something he called a ‘busy board’, saying that Robbie was staring to get too old for his sensory board. Robbie enjoys undoing the locks and latches on his new board, but is far too attached to the textures on his old one to even consider the possibility of putting it away for good. 

He drags both boards out into the backyard to fiddle with when his mother heads out to hang up laundry. She makes Robbie wear his wide brimmed hat to keep from getting burnt and it’s starting to get a little tight, but he doesn’t mind the faint pressure at his temples.

He settles down in the middle of the yard, content to enjoy the warmth of the sun and the silence and the feel of his fingers at work.

He’s undone several latches when he hears the sound of running from beyond the fence and his face pulls into a frown at the idea of having to go inside again so soon after he’d come out. He glares at the planks of wood, hand unconsciously reaching towards his sensory board, fingers drifting over the surface of a blue, gel tactile pad.

Robbie jerks in surprise when someone leaps over the fence, flipping in the air before landing. The stranger looks in the direction of Robbie’s mother and waves, and then his gaze shifts over to Robbie.

“Hello.” The stranger steps forward and crouches down, smiling widely. Robbie casts a glance to his mother, who doesn’t seem very concerned about the stranger who has jumped over their fence, she just smiles and shakes her head in amusement before continuing to pin up the sheets.

“Hello,” he greets back once he’s sure the stranger has his mother’s approval to be here.

“You’re Robbie, right? You’ve grown up a lot since I last saw you! You must be at least three times as big as you were back then.”

Robbie doesn’t answer, content to fiddle with the series of locks in front of him.

“You can call me Nine, if you like. I was going to start up a game of tag with some of the other children soon, would you like to join?”

Robbie casts a brief glance up. It will be noisy on the other side of the fence again. He’ll have to go back inside.

“Robbie?” Nine leans in a bit closer, then appears to tune in to the fact that Robbie’s hands have been steadily working away, not pausing for a moment. “What is it that you’re doing there?”

“Playing,” he answers simply, sorting through a series of old keys on a ring to find the one that will fit the antique door handle on his board.

“I see. What about that other board beside you?”

“Playing,” he says again, then his face scrunches up in thought. “And calming,” he adds. “You can try it.”

Nine smiles and reaches forward gamely, placing his hand firmly on a patch of faux fur as if he were petting a dog.

“No. That’s not how you do it.” Robbie uses both hands to grab at Nine’s wrist, guiding him away, and then leading him back slowly so that his palm just barely grazes over the tallest lengths of fur.

“Like that. Softly.” Robbie takes his hands away and moves his own palms up and down parallel to each other, skin brushing together occasionally, demonstrative. “You feel it better when you do it softly.” 

“I see.” Nine glides his hand lightly over the fur, his movements suitably slow. “It tickles.”

Robbie hums in agreement and turns his attention back to the keys. He finds the one that matches the handle and inserts it into the lock, twisting, smiling when he hears a faint click. He turns the handle and opens up a small section of his board before closing it and locking it again.

“I’ll leave you to your playing, then. But if you want you can always feel free to join in on our games. I’ll be around town for a while, so you don’t have to feel shy about asking to join if you want.” Nine removes his hand from the fur and smoothly moves into a standing position. “Even after I’m gone, I’m sure the other kids would love to play with you.”

Robbie undoes the deadbolt at the top of his board.

“Would I be able to come back and visit you again? It was nice to see you.”

Robbie pauses, hands going still, and he contemplates the question.

Nine did talk to him more than Robbie was used to, but he didn’t speak too loud or too fast, and the sound of his voice wasn’t particularly grating. And he’d followed Robbie’s directions on how to properly enjoy the fur on his sensory board.

“Okay,” Robbie agrees, and Nine’s smile brightens.


End file.
